Mothers Who Kill -- Group Says Antidepressants Can Induce Violence and Suicide

[Guest guest]

" Mark Miller " <mmiller18

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 20:51:33 -0000

[drugawareness] Mothers Who Kill -- Group Says

Antidepressants Can Induce Violence and Suicide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released

today by the

Prozac Survivors Support Group and the International Coalition for

Drug Awareness:

 

As Dyer, Indiana woman stands accused of murdering her children while

on an

antidepressant, group accuses FDA of withholding violent and suicidal

effects of

antidepressants for more than 14 years.

 

Mrs. Bonnie Leitsch, founder of " Prozac Survivors Support Group "

(PSSG), has joined with

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D., founder of the International Coalition for

Drug Awareness

(ICFDA) in calling for immediate federal action to warn the public

that antidepressants not

only can induce suicidality in adult patients -- but also acts of

violence. Just last week,

30-year-old Indiana mother Magdalena Lopez was charged with murdering

her two sons,

aged 2 and 9. According to relatives and neighbors, she had been taking an

antidepressant.

 

In June, the FDA issued its second warning that adults taking

antidepressants should be

monitored for suicidal ideation and worsening depression.

 

Mrs. Leitsch says that it is unconscionable that new mothers are being

prescribed drugs

that have been known to induce psychosis, violence and suicidality for

more than a

decade. " In 1991, there was evidence of 500 deaths associated with

antidepressants

presented to an FDA Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee hearing

investigating Prozac, " says Mrs. Leitsch. " The failure to issue the

warning has led to more

suicides, homicides, school shooters and mothers killing their own

children. " PSSG has the

original film footage from the 1991 FDA hearings, where dozens of

testimonies were given

by family members of those who had either killed themselves, or loved

ones, or individuals

who had attempted suicide which they directly attributed to taking an

antidepressant.

 

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? says,

" These are extremely

dangerous drugs that should have been banned, as similar drugs were in

the past. Federal

investigations into the violence-inducing effects of these drugs are

long overdue. " For over

15 years Dr. Tracy has been an outspoken critic of SSRI antidepressant

drugs and has

testified as an expert witness in numerous court cases involving such

drugs. " The scientific

evidence behind this has been out there for decades. All anyone ever

had to do was read

it, " she says.

 

Magdalena Lopez joins a long list of women who have murdered their

children while

under the influence of antidepressants known to cause violence,

psychosis, and suicide in

adults.

 

Here are just a handful of similar cases of mothers taking

antidepressants who killed their

children:

 

-- Annie Mae Haskew smothered her 10-week-old son in October of 2002.

Before the

murder she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and had been

taking

antidepressants.

 

-- Andrea Yates drowned her five children, aged 6 months to 7 years in

the family

bathtub on Nov. 22, 2004, while taking two antidepressants Effexor and

Remeron, both

had been given at maximum dose.

 

-- Dena Schlosser killed her 10-month-old infant daughter in November

2004 by

severing her baby's arms. She had been diagnosed with postpartum

depression,

hospitalized and prescribed psychiatric " medication for depression "

before the crime.

 

-- Mary Ellen Moffitt suffocated her 5-week-old daughter and herself

July 26, 2004.

Before this she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and had

been taking the

antidepressant Paxil.

 

-- Emiri Padron smothered her baby daughter in her crib on June 22,

2004 and then

stabbed herself twice in the chest. Emiri was receiving psychiatric

treatment before the

incident and investigators found the antidepressant Zoloft in the

apartment where the

crime took place.

 

-- Mine Ener used a kitchen knife to cut the throat of her 6-

month-old daughter on Aug.

4, 2003, after being diagnosed with postpartum depression and taking

" medication " for

the condition.

 

Mrs. Leitsch says that the FDA's claim that it could take a year to

review the suicide

adverse effects of antidepressant drugs is negligent. " They must warn

the public that not

only can the drugs include suicide -- but heinous acts of violence --

mothers killing their

own children, or children killing other children. Many of the school

shooters were being

prescribed these drugs, including Eric Harris, Kip Kinkel and the

latest school shooter from

Red Lake, Minnesota, Jeff Wiese. How many more drug-induced murders

must we have

before someone takes notice? Before the government takes action? "

 

Mrs. Leitsch presented Sen. Grassley with a video of key testimony

from the September

20, 1991 FDA hearings demonstrating that the FDA was informed of

antidepressant

dangers 14 years ago. " Today, 36 million Americans are taking the

drugs and deserve to

know the truth, " said Mrs. Lietsch.

 

See story at http://www.rednova.com/news/health/188661/

mothers_who_kill__group_says_antidepressants_can_induce_violence/

 

For interviews or more information, contact:

 

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D., executive director, International Coalition

For Drug Awareness,

801-209-1800 or atracyphd1(At)aol.com

 

Mrs. Bonnie Lietsch, national director, PSSG, 502-459-2086

 

Mrs. Rosie Mysenberg, assistant national director, PSSG, 214-328- 1984

 

http://www.usnewswire.com

 

Source: U.S. Newswire